edmonton cougars.

Monday night, I swore I heard an animal growl outside my house.

This was in my inbox this morning...

On (Thursday) Aug 31, 2006 at 2 am, the Edmonton Police Service advised that there was an unconfirmed sighting of a cougar in the area of Stadium Car park and R.C.M.S (116 Street-89/91 Ave). Again, this information is unconfirmed however we feel that the community should be informed. In the event that a cougar is sighted on campus contact Campus Security Services immediately at 492-5050 or the EPS at 423-4567.

That's 4 blocks away...

may is now more than a month.

- Elizabeth May is the new Leader of the Green Party of Canada. The former Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada should shake things up on the Canadian federal scene. Should be interesting to see which direction she takes the Green's in toward the next Federal Election.

I really think the Greens are the ones to watch at both the Federal and Alberta political level (as I mentioned here).

- This is an interesting campaign by Lakehead University. Though I was very surprised that an institution would try something this risqe, it is certainly generating the attention it was meant to.

- Federal Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy is calling for national educational standards.

- Now you can buy "A whale of a day at Marineland with Albina and John!" woot?

I didn't think so.

- "truthliness" and "wikiality" are the new "TV Words of the Year."

ted morton's bill 208 - pwned!

The Alberta Liberal and NDP caucus' were sucessful in filibustering Ted Morton's Bill 208 yesterday afternoon in the Alberta Legislature.

In response to the still-death of his bill, Dr. Morton had these words to offer:

"The Liberals not only were irresponsible in blocking debate today, they were stupid, too."

Liberal House Leader Laurie Blakeman responded with:

"I'm not going to accept arguments from Dr. Morton that he deserves special treatment to get his bill up and I'm frankly not going to accept that from the Speaker either."

ADDENUM - I would just like to send a shout out to all those folks who felt inclined to send me emails filled with lots of nasty names and accusations. Glad to know that you're reading my blog!

there is no chin under chuck norris' beard. there is only another fist.

Hey guess what? A non-political post!!!!

- I saw Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby last weekend. It was pretty funny. It was a typical Will Ferrell movie filled with oneliners. Ali G was good too. Speaking of Ali G, the trailers for Borat are out. I'm really looking forward to this one. It looks pretty ridiculous, but should be somewhat entertaining.

- I registered for the University of Alberta's Parkland Institute Conference this upcoming November. The theme is "Power for the People: Determining Our Energy Future" and the speakers list includes John Raulston Saul, Marc Lisac, Gillian Steward, Larry Pratt, Lindsay Telfer, Gordon Laxer, and Oystein Noreng. It should be interesting.

- This is a cool music video.

- And finally, Chuck Norris is still pretty cool.

let's stop ted morton's bill 208!

Ted Morton's Bill 208 is now posted on the Assembly website. It's very important that this sort of mean spirited and discriminatory legislation be stopped before it can become law in Alberta.

If passed, Bill 208 will amend the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act, the Schools Act, and the Marriage Act to propose that:
1. educational information about gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer or transgendered rights will will be optional in public schools.
2. public marriage commissionaires could opt out of performing same-sex marriages.
3. that a person expressing their opinion/ideas about homosexuality could not have a claim of discrimination brought against them.

Here is what you can do to STOP BILL 208!

- Phone, Fax, or Email Ted Morton and tell him why you oppose Bill 208 (cc the email to your MLA):
Email: foothills.rockyview@assembly.ab.ca
Constituency Phone: 1-866-843-4314 (toll-free)
Constituency Fax: (403) 216-2225
Legislature Phone: (780) 422-2768
Legislature Fax: (780) 422-1671

- Phone, Fax, or Email your MLA and let them know why you oppose Bill 208. Find your MLA here. Ask your MLA to table your email in the Assembly.

- Come and show your opposition to Bill 208 at the Alberta Legislature on Monday August 28. To get passes to the visitors gallery and be introduced in the Assembly, please call the Liberals (Contact Jill Roszell at (780) 422-0013 or jill.roszell@assembly.ab.ca) or the NDP (Contact Anand Sharma at (780) 415-1803).

Monday's session will run from 1:30pm to around 5:30pm. You must register before 11am on Monday August 28 as they need to send the list of people to the Speaker's Office so you can be introduced.

(Updated with amendments)

abiogenic petroleum will save us!

Phew! I feel better already.

The hypothesis of abiogenic petroleum origin holds that most petroleum was formed from deep carbon deposits, perhaps deposits dating to the accretion of the Earth. The ubiquity of hydrocarbons in the solar system is taken as evidence that there may be a great deal more petroleum on Earth than commonly thought, and that material may exist at depth in the Earth's crust and mantle. Adherents to the abiogenic hypothesis often downplay or dismiss altogether the more widely held view that petroleum is a fossil fuel produced from the buried remains of ancient living organisms.

dome challenged.

1. Seriously. SERIOUSLY.

The legislature begins a rare summer session tomorrow, but Premier Ralph Klein says what MLAs do under the Dome doesn't count for much.

The departing premier says that during his summer travels around the province - a combination farewell tour and fact-finding mission - he's been reminded that what happens at the legislature doesn't mean all that much to the average Albertan.

"I have always said what we see and do here bears no relationship with what is happening in the real world," Klein told the Sun. ...

2. CalgaryGrit has a found a ridiculous video of Florida Congress Republican candidate Tramm Hudson. Here's another ridiculous video.

3. According to the Globe & Mail:

The number of homeless people also seems to be on the rise. In 1992, when Calgary began its biennial count of the number of homeless in the city, there were 447 people without permanent shelter; this spring, the number reached 3,436. In Edmonton, the homeless population hovers at about 2,200.

Even smaller urban centres are now struggling with the issue. Grande Prairie in northern Alberta recently estimated that about 1,159 people -- the majority being men between the ages of 18 and 24 -- didn't have a roof over their heads.

According to the City of Grande Prairie, their estimated population in 2005 was 44, 631. If these numbers are correct, that means that 2.5% of people in Grande Prairie are homeless - that's about one in fourty citizens. We have a problem.

stop ted morton's bill 208!

I was in Calgary for meetings today. When I got back to Edmonton, this was waiting in my inbox:

From: ******@ualberta.ca
Date: August 21, 2006 1:23:03 PM MDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Bill 208: A Call to Action!

CALL TO ACTION

MLA Ted Morton will try to bring back his private members bill 208 in the upcoming provincial session on Monday August 28.

Morton's bill as proposed would legislate that 1. information about G/L/B/T not be allowed in schools, 2. marriage commissionaires could opt out of performing same-sex marriages, and 3. that a person expressing their opinion/ideas about homosexuality could not have a claim of discrimination brought against them.

Although it is rumoured that Mr. Morton will bring forth an amended bill (and remove some clauses) it needs to be stopped in its entirety!

The Provincial legislative session begins on Thursday Aug. 24 and Monday August 28 beginning at 1:30pm will be the session for private member's bills.

In discussions with both the provincial Liberals and New Democrats their strategy will be to filibuster on August 28 to keep the bill from coming forward.

CALL FOR ACTION

This e-mail is coming to you in hopes that you will register, attend and be introduced in the Legislative Assembly on August 28. The session will begin at 1:30pm and run until 5:30pm. You can only attend if you register.

In order to register and be introduced call either the Liberals (MLA Laurie Blakeman's office 414-0743) or the New Democrat Office (415-1803 Arnand Sharma). Invite others to do the same.

(Come early as everyone has to go through security.)

Thanks.

Kris Wells, Julie Lloyd, Michael Phair, Ken Macdonald, Murray Billett

N.B. There will be a media conference on the steps of the Legislature on Friday August 25 from 1 to 1:30pm. Attend if you are available.

I think it's really important that this regressive and backward agenda be stopped dead in its tracks.

It seems to me that the reappearance of Bill 208 has more to do with Ted Morton's bid for the Alberta PC leadership than any real Alberta uprising. It would be disgraceful if Bill 208 was being used as a tool to simply galvinize the support of a crop of social conservatives in favour of Dr. Morton.

UPDATE - Click here to find out how to STOP BILL 208!

coke & mentos.

The conference is done and I'm freed for the rest of my Sunday afternoon! And what a wonderful afternoon it is!

The Fringe Festival is up and running this weekend and will be going until next Sunday. I was there last night and plan to check out some of the great (and not-so-great shows) this week. If anyone has heard of some good ones - drop a comment in the box and let me know.

Also, I tried this today. It was awesome.

conference weekend...

I'll be at a conference for most of the weekend, so I will leave you with that.

findrobert.ca

If you live in Edmonton, there's a good chance you may have heard about this.

On August 13, 2006 Robert Barrington Leigh went missing while riding his bike to the Edmonton Folk Festival. If you know anything about his whereabouts, please contact the Edmonton Police Service at 423-4567 or the FindRobert HQ at 904-4837. There is also a website set up for the search.

UPDATE: Sad news.

the secret public consultation on pse?

As someone who has spent the past two years employed and immersed in the post-secondary education policy and advocacy sector, I was quite surprised to see that Human Resources and Social Development Canada is holding consultations on post-secondary education.

Now, because I don't have a ton of official business in Ottawa it might not seem very surprising that I wasn't the first to find out, but it wasn't through the regular channels that I discovered the consultation - I found out on Paul Wells' blog.

And as CFSR has pointed out, there were also no press releases informing the public or the media about the existance of the consultation which has a submission deadline of September 8.

Wells' also noted that an acquaintance of his in the PSE sector noted to him that:

"to my knowledge no groups were notified about this consultation and no efforts have been made to publicize it."

So, now that Wells has blown the cover of this secret public consultations, I encourage everyone to go to the consultation website, fill out the form, and tell the Government of Canada about the importance of post-secondary education.

I get the feeling that this could be a interesting topic of discussion at an upcoming post-secondary education conference I'm attending next weekend.

I give Paul Wells 100% props for bringing this public consultation to the attention of the public.

Kudos, Mr. Wells!

a case of red deer south?

I was a little surprised at when I heard that Innovation & Science Minister and Red Deer South MLA Victor Doerksen had resigned from the Tory cabinet yesterday and may run in the Alberta PC leadership race.

Though I had heard rumblings that Doerksen, a very social conservative MLA since 1993, was thinking about running, I was nearly convinced that he would be the first Tory MLA to endorse Ted Morton (which he also still might do).

I wonder what affect this will have on the social conservative vote that Morton seemed to have a near monopoly on? (As an MLA, Doerksen has advocated for the ban of liturature such as "Of Mice and Men" from schools).

Will this split Ted Morton's presumed support on the first ballot? Does Doerksen have what it takes to draw enough of the disgruntled right to his side?

The 1992 PC leadership race saw three main social conservative Christian candidates - then-Edmonton Parkallen MLA Doug Main, then-Red Deer South MLA John Oldring, and former Social Credit candidate Lloyd Quantz.

So, not only is Doerksen the second outed social conservative candidate of the race - but it is also at least the second time an Alberta PC leadership candidate has also been the MLA for Red Deer South. Interesting...

folking the fest.

I was quite excited to see that Back to the Future II was on last night. Though the first Back to the Future film is clearly superior to the second film, I really enjoyed watching it on TBS (and yes, I do own the trilogy on DVD...).

Feel free to check out this Back to the Future related postI wrote up in June of 2005. The post outlines some of the positives and negatives of the film, along with the plot holes in Back to the Future II. Ilearly had too much time on my hands on the evening of June 10, 2005.

On another note, I spent most of my weekend at the Edmonton Folk Festival and it was a lot of fun to spend the day sitting out in the sun on a tarp and enjoying the great tunes.

In no particular order (because they were all great), I took in the tunes of Bruce Cockburn, Sarah Harmer, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Feist, Chumbawamba, The McDades, Oscar Lopez, Hawksley Workman, James Keelghan, Rachelle van Zanten, Jenny Allen, The Wailin' Jennys, David Gray, Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Salil Bhatt, Salif Keita, and many many more...

maclean's boycott!

I thought this was interesting - University Presidents from eleven of Canada's major Universities have signed a letter announcing their intention to boycott of the annual Maclean's Magazine University Rankings...

hot hot hot.

Happy Saturday! A couple of random notes...

- Check out these great video's from YouTube - The Vader Sessions, George Galloway on Sky News, and Appalachian State University is HOT HOT HOT...

- New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord has announced that he will ask the Lt. Gov. Herménégilde Chiasson to drop the writ for a September 18 election. Current standings in the New Brunswick Legislature have Lord's PC's at 28, Shawn Graham's Liberals at 26, and one Independent MLA. Allison Brewer's NDP do not hold any seats in the Assembly.

- Here's an article from the Edmonton Journal about the power a small band of hard-nosed and dedicated Liberals from rural Alberta will wield at the Federal Liberal leadership convention... (props to libnews.ca for the linkage).

- There are a couple of interesting posts going back and forth between Ken Chapman and fromthemountains at the One Party State blog.

- The second round of Calgary Grit's Best PM Never is on and only three of "the daveberta eight" made it to the second round. So, here are the official daveberta SECOND ROUND endorsements, aka "the daveberta four"...

Matchup 1 - Peter Lougheed
Matchup 2 - Sir George-Étienne Cartier
Matchup 3 - Roy Romanow
Matchup 4 - Ed Broadbent

So... VOTE!

- Finally, the Folk Fest Blog is up and running for the weekend...

"do you hunt quail, mr. harper?"

"He better be careful or he'll be the first Prime Minister to die of a buckshot sandwich." - Anon

alberta energy confusion.

According to recent polling released by the Pembina Institute, 84% of Albertans think the Provincial government isn’t collecting enough royalties from our non-renewable resources.

Yesterday, Alberta PC leadership hopeful Dave Hancock joined the ever-growing chorus of Alberta political leaders calling for a review of Alberta's oil royalties. Among those Hancock is joining are Alberta Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald and NDP leader Brian Mason, who have been calling on the province to review it's share of oil royalties and the structure under which they are collected for some time.

In July, Energy Minister Greg Melchin announced that the government had conducted and A-OKed the current royalty structure through a secret non-public internal review. This came as quite a surprise to almost everyone in Alberta, including Tory MLA's and PC leadership candidates Ed Stelmach and Ted Morton, who remember the review being shelved... ... Mark Norris wants the royalties reviewed... Jim Dinning was vague, but wants royalty information to be made more public...

Was there actually a review of Alberta's oil royalty structure?

And on another bizarre note, Premier Klein doesn't think that Alberta needs a long-term oil sands strategy, something that his government announced it would do back in October of 2005... only about 33 years after original Syncrude oil sands site was built...

Are Albertans going to have an oil sands development strategy?

Maybe they should hire Ian Urquhart and Larry Pratt to do it...

domesday online.

I thought this was pretty cool. The actual Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, is now available online care of the British National Archives.

For those of you not completely familiar with said book, here is what the all-knowing Wikipedia has to say...

Domesday Book (also known as Domesday, or Book of Winchester), was the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William the Conqueror. The survey was similar to a census by a government of today. William needed information about the country he had just conquered so he could administer it. Whilst spending the Christmas of 1085 in Gloucester, William "had deep speech with his counsellors and sent men all over England to each shire ... to find out ... what or how much each landholder had in land and livestock, and what it was worth." One of the main purposes of the survey was to find out who owned what so they could be taxed on it, and the judgment of the assessors was final — whatever the book said about who owned the property, or what it was worth, was the law, and there was no appeal.

So, unfortunately for the people of Britain in 1086, there was no Department of Constitutional Affairs or booklet such as the Tax Appeals: A guide to appealing against decisions of the Inland Revenue on tax and other matters to help them out.

leadership horizons.

As an Albertan not of the conservative variety, it may seem weird that I spend a decent part of my time blogging about the relatively uneventful Alberta PC leadership race. So, in a quest for a more diverse blogging repertoire, I shall attempt to branch out to other interesting areas of political combustibles.

Take the Federal Liberal and Green Party leadership races, which are also currently ongoing...

In the race for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada (and Stornoway), we find a number of candidates from different backgrounds and political experiences (or non-experiences). This past week, Elections Canada released the breakdown for Liberal leadership candidates fundraising up until June 1. Care of DemocraticSPACE (and libnews), here is the total fundraising breakdown from Liberal leadership candidates in the Province of Alberta:

Michael Ignatieff - 64%
Scott Brison - 16%
Gerard Kennedy - 12%
Martha Hall-Findlay - 4%
Stephane Dion - 3%
Others - 2%

Now, take into account that fundraising numbers don't mean much when a leadership election depends on memberships sold and showing up to vote (which as Will and Blake point out is something the media seems to be missing when covering the Alberta PC leadership race...), but it does seem interesting to see the percentage breakdowns.

It will be more interesting to see how the delegate selection numbers breakdown across the country in September. I'd be willing to think that some of the current candidates won't make it to the convention and I'm willing to be the frontrunners range somewhere around Michael Ignatieff, Gerard Kennedy, Bob Rae, and Stephane Dion.

As mentioned previous, my choice for Liberal leader is Gerard Kennedy.

In another race, the Green Party of Canada is looking to grow its roots under the leadership of three potential candidates - Elizabeth May, David Chernushenko, and Jim Fannon.

I think this race is a lot more interesting than the lack of attention it’s receiving would suggest. The Greens have enormous growth potential - especially if Canadians are getting comfortable with the idea of minority Parliaments in Ottawa. With environmental issues gaining more attention in mainstream debates, I would predict that the environment will become an even larger issue coming elections. Along with having a natural advantage in this realm, the Greens also have the advantage of not having to haul around the same amout of the political baggage (luggage?) that the mainstream establishment Conservatives, Liberals, and New Democrats do on a daily basis.

The Greens also have been gaining support and creating support bases in regions that might seem unlikely at first glance. In Calgary for example, the Federal Greens and Alberta Greens received more votes than the NDP in the past Federal and Provincial elections and have also receiving relatively strong support in many rural Alberta ridings.

Along with a strong base of support in British Columbia, it should be interesting to see if the Greens new leader can lead that party to create the momentum to draw strong candidates and the Big Mo' needed to gain a presence in the House of Commons.

vote for the daveberta eight!

The first round of Calgary Grit's Best PM Never ends tomorrow at 12 noon - so remember to VOTE!

Here are the daveberta Official Endorsements in the race...

Matchup 1 - D'Arcy McGee
Matchup 3 - Ed Broadbent
Matchup 4 - Sir George-Étienne Cartier
Matchup 5 - Louise Arbour
Matchup 6 - Lloyd Axworthy
Matchup 7 - Stephen Lewis
Matchup 8 - Peter Lougheed

On another note, James Laxer has a copy of an article on his blog about the political tactics of the Federal NDP in the 2004 & 2006 elections. I read the article in The Walrus a couple of months ago.

I also read Laxer's book "The Border: Canada, the U.S. and Dispatches from the 49th Parallel" last month, there are some pretty good sections in it. Maybe I'll post a review if I find the time.

inglewood jack.

I'm not sure how long this video has been floating around, but it's great... and Sam Jackson rocks...

try the beef roti.

I'm enjoying a relaxing August long-weekend! Spent a large part of yesterday soaking up the sun and a plethora of different cultures (and foods) at Heritage Days in Harwelak Park. I hadn't been there since I was a young daveberta and I had a great time. If you go, make sure to check out the Sri Lankan tent - the Beef Roti was great. Also, the Turkish Belly Dancers were worth it.

I was able to score some passes to Edmonton's Folk Fest on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday next week - which is great. Performers include Bruce Cockburn, Linda Ronstadt, Hawksley Workman, and tonnes of others... make sure to check out the "This Tarp Kills Fascists" Folk Fest Blog for all sorts of wonderful Folk Fest 2006 updates...

Last week, I attended the annual Edmonton Rutherford & Whitemud Liberals Salmon BBQ at SnowValley. It was a great event for Edmonton Rutherford MLA Rick Miller and the Edmonton Whitemud group. I counted around 200 people there and I'm guessing they were able to raise quite a bit of funds the next election campaign. Liberal leader Kevin Taft was there along with MLA's Laurie Blakeman, Bharat Agnihotri, Bruce Miller, Jack Flaherty, and Weslyn Mather.

And finally, make sure you get out there and VOTE for the Best PM Never! Anyone can vote in this race and it's clearly the most democratic opportunty out there - EVER! (You don't even have to pay $5!)

the daveberta eight.

After unsucessfully running the unofficial grassroots "Henry Herbert Stevens for Best PM Never" Campaign, I've decided to throw my figurative weight around and announce the Official daveberta endorsements in Round 1 of Calgary Grit's Best PM Never Poll/Competition/Election!

After much deliberation and controversy, here they are...

Matchup 1 - D'Arcy McGee
Matchup 3 - Ed Broadbent
Matchup 4 - Sir George-Étienne Cartier
Matchup 5 - Louise Arbour
Matchup 6 - Lloyd Axworthy
Matchup 7 - Stephen Lewis
Matchup 8 - Peter Lougheed

So, get out there and VOTE!

ritter gets six.

It's getting to the point where I should really think about renaming daveberta to ritterberta or something like that...

From the front page of today's Edmonton Journal...

Ponzi suspect plotted escape
Judge: Ex-Alta. official jailed for hiding passport
Charles Rusnell

EDMONTON - Michael Ritter, Alberta's former chief parliamentary counsel, was sentenced to six months in prison Wednesday after he was found guilty of breach of recognizance in what the judge called a "craftily planned" attempt to evade the potential consequences of serious criminal charges.

Provincial court Judge Bruce Fraser said Ritter employed "deceit and subterfuge" when he wilfully ignored his bail conditions by failing to surrender a Belizean passport in his name and then obtaining a second Belizean passport under an alias.

"Although the offence itself was not the most serious, the manner in which it was committed is," Fraser said. "The breach was to put himself in a position to avoid the proper administration of justice not just in this country, but in the United States."

The charge against Ritter stems from October 2003, when a judge presiding over a bail hearing ordered him to surrender all his passports and not apply for any others. Read the rest...

See the entire Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology.

ritter guilty of passport charge.

Michael Ritter has been found guity of breaching a court-ordered recognizance that barred him from obtaining a passport while awaiting trial on charges of international fraud... from the Edmonton Journal...

The judge in the case ruled today he knowingly tried to obtain a passport to leave Canada to avoid prosecution on a string of fraud and related charges in connection with an international investment scheme and money-laundering charges.

Ritter, the former chief parliamentary counsel at the Alberta legislature, is accused of trying to change his name to obtain a Belizean passport.

The alleged breach of recognizance happened while he was out on bail, which has since been revoked. He is in custody while awaiting trial on charges of fraud, money-laundering and obstruction of justice.

He has been indicted in the United States for his allege role in a $250-million “Ponzi” scheme, in which people from the United States were enticed to invest their money on the promise of returns that didn’t exist. In such a scheme, money from later investors is used to pay earlier ones, creating the appearance that it is producing profitable returns for investors. But eventually it collapses because there isn’t enough money to pay off all investors.

He also faces several charges in Canada related to his alleged role in laundering $43 million US, stolen from a brokerage firm by a Wall Street trader. Read the rest...

See the entire Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology.

fate on a passport...

Ritter to learn fate on passport charge

Edmonton businessman Michael Ritter may find out today if he is guilty of breaching a court-ordered recognizance barring him from obtaining another passport while awaiting trial on international fraud charges.

Ritter, the former chief parliamentary counsel at the Alberta legislature, is accused of trying to change his name to obtain a Belizean passport.

The alleged breach of recognizance happened while he was out on bail, which has since been revoked. He is in custody while awaiting trial on charges of fraud, money-laundering and obstruction of justice. Read the rest here...

(Picture: the infamous Adam Michael Phillippe d'Orleans passport...)

(Read the entire Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology)

clear as mud.

This one really slipped by me, and obviously the newspapers, too....

The "background" section of this ruling has a decent history of the confusing path of Michael Ritter's extradition proceedings.

In short, in October 2003, Ritter was arrested under a "provisional arrest warrant" which is a procedure allowable under the Extradition Act. In granting bail, the Court of Queen's Bench Justice Lewis allowed Ritter to go on the basis of recognizance.

You will then recall that sometime last year Ritter allegedly applied for a Belizean passport, in contravention of a court order ordering him to surrender all of his passports and not to apply for any others. In February 2006, Ritter along with his lawyer were charged in connection with this passport application; Ritter was specifically charged with "breach of recognizance."

In the extradition case, Ritter then asked Justice Joanne Veit to declare that the recognizance he originally gave in October 2003 to be voided because of the January 2004 "Authority to Proceed" with extradition issued by the Minister of Justice.

An interpretation of this could be that Ritter wanted this declaration in order to say that since the recognizance he gave was null and void, he did not "breach" recognizance - thus beating the February 2006 charges.

In this ruling, Justice Veit cuts through the procedural mumbo-jumbo to basically say that Ritter's word he gave in October 2003 to the Court of Queen's Bench would hold. The effect is to allow the February 2006 charges to continue against him.

Clear as mud?

(See the entire Michael Ritter Scandal Chronology...)

zachary miller found.

2006-08-01 15:00

Zachary Miller Found

Mid afternoon today, a resident of the Kipling area located an abandoned van matching the description of the suspect vehicle in the Saskatchewan Amber Alert. As this person was investigating the vehicle, 10-year-old Zachary Miller ran out from a building on the property which appears to be an abandoned farm. It is believed Peter Whitmore and Jordan Bruyere are in one of the buildings. A perimeter has been set-up and the RCMP emergency response team is heading to the area. We will release more information as it is available.

-30-

for further information:

Sgt. Tammy Patterson
RCMP Media Relations
"F" Division
(306) 780-6178

Click here for more details on this story. Obviously this story is still evolving.